Kathryn and Chakotay went to Indiana on December 23th. Kathryn was still not in a celebration mood and went right after dinner in Gretchen's guest room where she and Chakotay stayed through the holidays.

She also still felt sick and spent most of the next day in the bathroom and with a headache in bed.

Chakotay didn't know how to help her. His heart clenched every time he saw her rushing in the bathroom and heard the noises she made in there. He only tried two times to comfort her but she wouldn't allow it anymore. He sighed, left her alone and didn't try again.

It was early on Christmas morning as Chakotay awoke because of the noise in the bathroom. "Kathryn?" he called concerned and got up. "Is everything okay?"

The door opened and a furious Kathryn emerged. "Nothing is okay!" she yelled. "I've just emptied everything out of me!"

"Again?"

"Yes, again."

"You should call the Doctor."

"No, Chakotay." She glared at him. "Just bring me something for this stupid nausea," she hissed and crawled back in bed.

He sighed and left, knowing every word would make it worse. "Merry Christmas, Chakotay," he murmured sadly as he closed the door.

#

"Come in." Chakotay opened the door to the bedroom.

"What the…," Kathryn turned around and groaned loudly at the sight of the Doctor.

"Good to see you too, Admiral," the Doctor said cheerfully.

"What did I say?" she spat in Chakotay's direction.

"You wanted something for the nausea. I think the Doctor will help."

"How do you feel exactly?" the Doctor asked, ignoring the glance Kathryn gave Chakotay.

"Nauseous, I have a terrible headache, my knees feel like jelly, everyone and everything is bothering me… shall I go on?"

"Hmhm. I will scan you."

She rested her back at the pillows while Chakotay walked on the other side of the room.

"Hmmm…," the Doctor hummed as he began to scan her. Kathryn suppressed the urge to hit him. "Admiral, since when have you felt nauseous?"

"I don't know… two, three weeks."

"Hmmm…" Kathryn rolled her eyes. "And these mood-swings?"

"MOOD-SWINGS?" she yelled outraged and shot up. "I don't have mood-swings!"

"Of course not." He ducked his head and exchanged a glance with her husband, who still stood as far away as he could.

"Could you just give me a hypospray?" she asked now far too nicely.

"First I want to know the reason for your discomfort." He tipped some buttons on his tool and scanned her again. She groaned and laid back. "Hmm… I see…"

"Doctor?" she asked unnerved.

"Congratulations." He smiled pleased. "You are pregnant."

"That is not funny," she hissed dangerously.

"I'm not kidding. Look." He gave her the tricorder while Chakotay took a few brave steps towards the bed. Kathryn scanned herself thoroughly and her face changed from furious red to unbelieving pale.

"This can't be true," she said after she looked up. "You said it yourself. I can't get pregnant anymore."

The Doctor frowned and his eyes wandered from Kathryn to Chakotay and back. "What do you mean?"

"You said I am menopausal."

"When did I say that?"

"When we came to you because I thought I was pregnant."

The Doctor's frown deepened but before either Kathryn or Chakotay had the chance to speak the Doctor spoke. "Don't tell me this was at my new office."

"It was. You just moved there."

"Great, just great," he said angrily, throwing his hands in the air.

"Doctor?"

"You know that after we came back and Starfleet gave me more freedom and individual rights, they asked me where I wanted to work." Kathryn and Chakotay nodded. "And you know I was torn between going to Jupiter Station or Starfleet Medical and decided to work at Starfleet Medical in the end."

"Yes."

"Starfleet wanted to equip my office with the newest technology, including new holo emitter. Six weeks ago everything was installed and they downloaded my program for the first time into the new matrix. I asked if Lt. Torres could keep an eye on it, she knows my program better than anyone else, but they assured me that Starfleet's best engineers would do it." He rolled his eyes. "I began to malfunction. Some of my subroutines weren't compatible with the new emitter, others were deleted like some of my memory files but we noticed that something was wrong only after I ran for four days. I thought it was all restored, the engineers worked for weeks to repair the damage." He looked shocked at Kathryn. "Is this the reason why you were suffering through the last weeks?"

"Yes."

The Doctor looked like he was about to start crying. "Admiral, Commander, I am endlessly sorry. If I had known I would've…"

"It is okay, Doctor," Kathryn assured him. "It was apparently not your fault."

"It is still annoying to be manipulated so easily, though."

"I will make sure that B'Elanna goes to check you and repair the remaining damage."

"Thank you, Admiral." The Doctor smiled thankfully at his former captain.

It was silent for a moment until Kathryn's eyes suddenly widened and she looked over to Chakotay. "I can't be… we hadn't had…"

His face turned into a grin. "The night after we visited our Doc."

She began to radiate as she remembered. "I am really…?" she whispered.

"Pregnant," the Doctor completed. "You are going to be parents."

"We are going to be…"

"Parents," Chakotay said, jumped beside her and hugged her. "I love you, Kathryn," he murmured in her hair.

"I love you too."

She pulled away and he took her head in his hands. "I can't believe it."

"Me neither."

He kissed her forehead and rose. "Is she really okay?" he addressed the Doctor. "She felt very sick through the last days."

"I will scan her again." The Doctor grabbed his tricorder just to comfort them even if he knew she was okay. "Everything is fine," he assured them as he closed his tricorder. "I will give you something that will suppress the nausea."

"Is that okay for the baby? I had a lot of hyposprays through the last days. I don't want to hurt her… or him."

"I will check you regularly, since you're far too old for a first pregnancy…" Kathryn glared at him. "…but for now your babies are in perfect health."

"Babies?" Chakotay swallowed stunned.

"I can proudly say you're expecting twins," the Doctor beamed.

"Twins?"

"Twins. For older women multiple births are nothing unusual. It was expected that you would have at least twins."

Kathryn shook her head. "I can't believe it. Ten minutes ago I thought I will never have children and now we're having two."

"It's Christmas, Admiral. Time for wonder," the Doctor winked and gathered his tools.

"Is there anything we should keep in mind?" Chakotay asked concerned.

"No alcohol, of course. A lot of rest, fluids and food. You will probably have a huge appetite, there is nothing to worry about. And the other things… you can say whatever mommy likes the babies like it, too. Except coffee!" He added hastily but noticed quickly how far away he sent his former command team with the word 'mommy'. It was probably further than the Delta Quadrant, he guessed at the dreamy expressions on their faces.

He tapped his combadge. "Doctor to Starfleet Medical. One to beam out."

"Acknowledged," the transporter chief answered.

"Merry Christmas," the Doctor wished Kathryn and Chakotay with a smile as he shimmered away.

"Merry Christmas," Kathryn whispered joyfully.

The End

…

?

A/N: Thank you for reading and everyone who wrote a review. I really appreciate it.

It doesn't end here. I couldn't help myself and wrote a third (and last!) part. It's called 'One for you, one for me'.